(Ultra Tech) How realistic are Electrolasers?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Varyon

That's kind of how I visualized it - a miniature lightning bolt, constrained to the width of the beam. Two of them, really, since it's a circuit. Realistically, the electrical discharge probably isn't strong enough to create a visible effect within the beam - although I'd be very happy to be wrong about that.

It should be visible in low light conditions (the beam itself will also be visible, even if the spark doesn't fire, as a faint bluish beam, as the nitrogen de-ionizes).

Originally Posted by Daigoro

More brainstorming: is it possible for a target to carry a charged capacitor that delivers a blowback overcharged voltage to the attacker's gun? What happens to the gun if it gets a 100 kV charge instead of the 50 kV it operates at?

It's hard to see how you'd get it to fire properly, but likely nothing of interest unless you use something powerful enough that it will be quite hazardous for you. The weapon already has to deal with fairly large variations due to different environments, so it should be pretty surge tolerant.